Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: A Literary Star Is Born

The young African writer has become a household name.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - An Igbo writer born in the town of Enugu, Nigeria, 36-year-old Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been heralded as one of the most prominent young authors by a number of esteemed outlets, including BBC and The New Yorker. Her acclaimed debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, which she subsequently won for her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun. The former novel was recently adapted for film, starring fellow Nigerian Chiwetel Ejiofor.(Photo: Jerod Harris/Getty Images)

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Literary Superstar - From winning one of the most prestigious American literary prizes to being sampled by Beyoncé, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been catapulted into international stardom in a matter of months. Learn more about Adichie’s Afropolitan upbringing and groundbreaking work. – Patrice Peck (Photo: Jerod Harris/Getty Images)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Speaks out - Award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reportedly said she opposes Western military intervention against Boko Haram. A foreign attack on her homeland would be counterproductive, according to the Americanah novelist. “Now we have American drones helping us in this forest and even the French have sent in people. Shouldn’t they be fixing their own economy?” she said. “We can solve our own damn problems."(Photo:  PA PHOTOS /LANDOV)

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An Academic Family - Adichie was born on Sept. 15, 1977, in Enugu, Nigeria. The fifth of six children, she was raised near the University of Nigeria, where her father, James Nwoye Adichie, was statistics professor and later became the Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Her mother, Ifeoma Adichie, became the University’s first female registrar.(Photo: PA PHOTOS/LANDOV)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - The career of Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reached astronomical heights these past few years. Her latest novel Americanah, a National Book Critics Circle Award winner, centers on a pair of Nigerian lovers whose adventures take them from Nigeria to Britain to America. "Race is such a strange construct,” Adichie told NPR "because you have to learn what it means to be black in America.”(Photo: David Levenson/Getty Images)

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Higher Learning - A 19-year-old Adichie left for the U.S., where she received a scholarship to study communication at Drexel University for two years. She continued her studies at Eastern Connecticut State University, graduating summa cum laude in communication and political science in 2001.(Photo: David Levenson/Getty Images)

A Double Master - Next on Adichie’s list was a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University. She then served as a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University in 2005 and earned another MA in African Studies from Yale University in 2008.(Photo: WENN.com)

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A Double Master - Next on Adichie’s list was a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University. She then served as a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University in 2005 and earned another MA in African Studies from Yale University in 2008.(Photo: WENN.com)

Purple Hibiscus - Adichie started writing her first book, Purple Hibiscus, as a senior at Eastern. Released in October 2003 to wide critical acclaim, the novel tells the colorful coming-of-age story of Kambili, a 15-year-old Nigerian girl.(Photo: Courtesy of Algonquin Books)

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Purple Hibiscus - Adichie started writing her first book, Purple Hibiscus, as a senior at Eastern. Released in October 2003 to wide critical acclaim, the novel tells the colorful coming-of-age story of Kambili, a 15-year-old Nigerian girl.(Photo: Courtesy of Algonquin Books)

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Commonwealth Writers' Prize - Purple Hibiscus was shortlisted for the Orange Fiction Prize in 2004, but received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book the following year.(Photo: Daniel Deme/WENN)

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Commonwealth Writers' Prize - Purple Hibiscus was shortlisted for the Orange Fiction Prize in 2004, but received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book the following year.(Photo: Daniel Deme/WENN)

Half of a Yellow Sun - It was Adichie’s second novel Half of a Yellow Sun that prompted the Washington Post to christen her “the 21st-century daughter of Chinua Achebe,” her fellow Igbo forefather. (Photo: Courtesy of Harper Perennial)

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Half of a Yellow Sun - It was Adichie’s second novel Half of a Yellow Sun that prompted the Washington Post to christen her “the 21st-century daughter of Chinua Achebe,” her fellow Igbo forefather. (Photo: Courtesy of Harper Perennial)

Orange Prize - The effortless mastery of intricate storytelling that she displayed in this haunting book about the Biafran war won her the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.(Photo: Alpha/Landov)

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Orange Prize - The effortless mastery of intricate storytelling that she displayed in this haunting book about the Biafran war won her the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.(Photo: Alpha/Landov)

The Thing Around Your Neck - In her 2009 collection of short stories, The Thing Around Your Neck, Adichie centers on two nations, Nigeria and America, as a diverse group of characters struggles to reconcile the two complex cultures with their own identities.(Photo: Courtesy of Anchor Publishing)

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The Thing Around Your Neck - In her 2009 collection of short stories, The Thing Around Your Neck, Adichie centers on two nations, Nigeria and America, as a diverse group of characters struggles to reconcile the two complex cultures with their own identities.(Photo: Courtesy of Anchor Publishing)

"Makes the Strange Seem Familiar" - In an April 2009 review of The Thing Around Your Neck, The Daily Telegraph wrote: “Adichie writes with an economy and precision that makes the strange seem familiar. She makes storytelling seem as easy as birdsong.”    (Photo: AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE/LANDOV)

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"Makes the Strange Seem Familiar" - In an April 2009 review of The Thing Around Your Neck, The Daily Telegraph wrote: “Adichie writes with an economy and precision that makes the strange seem familiar. She makes storytelling seem as easy as birdsong.”    (Photo: AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE/LANDOV)

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Americanah - Keeping with her theme of multicultural African identities, Adichie published her third novel, Americanah, in 2013. The sweeping story of globalization follows Ifemelu and Obinze, two Nigerians precariously navigating cross-continental immigration and a long-lasting love for each other and their homeland.(Photo: Courtesy of Knopf Publishing)

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Americanah - Keeping with her theme of multicultural African identities, Adichie published her third novel, Americanah, in 2013. The sweeping story of globalization follows Ifemelu and Obinze, two Nigerians precariously navigating cross-continental immigration and a long-lasting love for each other and their homeland.(Photo: Courtesy of Knopf Publishing)

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Another Big Win - In addition to being listed as one of the 10 best books of 2013 by The New York Times, Americanah won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 2013. “I just really didn’t think I would win!” she said during her acceptance speech.(Photo: Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images)

Beyoncé Samples Chimamanda - Most bookish circles have known about Adichie’s work, but it was Beyoncé’s sampling of Adichie’s TEDx speech, “We Should All Be Feminists,” that exposed the 36-year-old writer to a much wider audience. About being sampled on “***Flawless,” Adichie told NPR,” I think that anything that gets young people talking about feminism is a very good thing.”(Photos: Ian Gavan/Getty Images; Stephanie Methven/WENN)

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Beyoncé Samples Chimamanda - Most bookish circles have known about Adichie’s work, but it was Beyoncé’s sampling of Adichie’s TEDx speech, “We Should All Be Feminists,” that exposed the 36-year-old writer to a much wider audience. About being sampled on “***Flawless,” Adichie told NPR,” I think that anything that gets young people talking about feminism is a very good thing.”(Photos: Ian Gavan/Getty Images; Stephanie Methven/WENN)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on possibly working with Lupita Nyong’o on the film adaptation of her novel: - “I'm going to do the mysterious thing and say that Lupita might be making an announcement very soon. I don't know. That announcement might be about Americanah." (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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A Collab With Lupita? - Fans of Adichie and recent Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o have been abuzz after learning that the two African women might have a film collaboration for Americanah in the works. "I'm going to do the mysterious thing and say that Lupita might be making an announcement very soon,” she said in an interview.(Photos: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, file; Kevin Winter/Getty Images)